


The Lonely Soul

by TheMaskedLoser



Category: Undertale, Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Be gentle, Dark Thoughts, Depressive Thoughts, F/M, Family connections, Female Protagonist, Magic, Reader Is Not Frisk, The sans/reader doesn't take place until a few chapters in, Undertale AU, please and thank you!, protagonist losing their mind, takes place after Frisk's true pacifist run, tell me if you see any errors!, this is my first fanfiction, undertale - Freeform, warning! A few puns ahead!, you're a science nerd, your name is Lora
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-12
Updated: 2016-02-21
Packaged: 2018-05-06 06:28:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5406491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMaskedLoser/pseuds/TheMaskedLoser
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What would you do if the people you loved were taken from you? Would you accept your fate and push forward or would you end it all? Your name is Lora the eldest in the group of three. You're a depressed teen with fear and loneliness eatting you from the inside out, but tell no one. Cait and Jess are your loving cousins who only have each other and you. One day the three of you are chased by an unknown source and fall into a hidden cavern. When all three of you wake up you to find yourselves somewhere new and mysterious called the UnderGround. That's when you meet your first monster: A Pun telling skeleton. Please enjoy your stay!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Lone Bone

“COUS! SLOW DOWN!”

Your feet pounded against the fresh earth kicking dirt behind you as you fled. You weaved through the thick forested area dodging stray branches and roots that blocked your undecided path. Why were you running? Oh nothing special. You and your cousins that tailed behind you stood up to a group of men who were verbally attacking a group of monsters. You three stepped in and pulled the men’s attention away from the monsters giving them plenty of time to flee. Everything was fine until Cait opened her mouth and told the guys off. She was always one to start an unnecessary fight. It probably didn’t help Jess threw rocks at the men when you guys first arrived. You think Cait just got unlucky and was the one who finally pressed their final button. Now all three of you ran for your lives while being chased by a group of drunk and unstable men. Just how you wanted to start off your week. Just fucking great.

“COUS! I CAN’T KEEP U-” You heard a nasty smack and skidding of flesh meeting and dragging against the unforgiving earth. On instinct you spun on your heels and cursed under your breath as you sped past Cait and slid to a stop coming to Jess’ entangled body. 

“WE DON’T HAVE TIME FOR YOU TRIPPING OVER EVERY LITTLE THING JESS!” You yelled as you started untangling her right foot from the twisting roots.

“WELL THEN SLOW DOWN! YOU KNOW I CAN’T RUN AS FAST AS YOU TWO!” Which was true. Both you and Cait were the same age and older than Jess by four years. Cait isn’t really build for running either, but she had the muscles to power through the almost any obstacle the forest threw at her. You on the other hand were a natural built runner. You were tall, slim, and had long ass legs. You were out of shape of course, but you didn’t have to put much effort into running. It just came to you naturally. Now Jess on the other hand was a nicer form of a “Preppy” girl. She was fit, but not really built for running. You let out a disapproving sigh as you heaved Jess off the ground and onto her feet. 

“Sit down” You motioned to a lopsided rock that was a few inches away from her. 

“But the men are still chasing us. We got to keep moving.”

“Sit DOWN.” You hissed. She reluctantly plopped herself down onto the rock and folded her arm across her chest pouting. You began inspecting Jess’ body for any further wounds or any possible broken bones. 

“Where are you hurt? Anything broken?” You asked looking into her eyes.

“No broken bones, but my right foot kind of stings.” She said as she straightened herself out. You carefully lowered yourself until you were eye level with her knees. You lifted her right foot and slowly turned it to the right and left noticing her twitch away in pain. 

“Does that hurt?” She gave a small nod.

“It’s not that bad Cous. Don’t worry about it.” You shot her a death glare and wrinkled your nose at her. You released her foot leaving it to hang in the air. You knew she was lying. You always knew when someone was lying and you hated it when someone even made the attempt in telling a lie. 

“Is she alright Lora?” You turned your head slightly to only see Cait leaning against a tree with her arms folded across her chest. Your eyes flicked back to Jess who had pulled her eyes away from you. She was a terrible liar and she knew it.

“Why not ask her yourself? She seems to know exactly what is wrong with her.” You spat.

“Lora , we don’t have time for this. Can she walk?” Cait said narrowing her eyes at you. You grind your teeth, but didn’t protest. You went back to examining Jess’ foot. You pressed your fingers onto the ball of her foot and pushed upwards slowly apply more pressure. She automatically flinched away. Shit.

“Stand up and try to put some pressure on it.” You said standing back up. Jess pushed herself up and slowly laid her right foot onto the ground. She looked up and with a pained smile. 

“See, nothing’s wrong.” You placed your hands on your hips and scowled at her.

“Then get a walking. Like Cait said we have NO time.” You stood in place with a smug smile tugging at the corner of your lips. She had a sprained ankle. Thank god she didn’t break anything, but you knew she wouldn’t be able to walk without limping for a couple of days. You tapped your foot waiting patiently for Jess to make her move. Hesitantly she stepped forward with her injured foot only to wince in pain and lose her balance. Before she could hit the ground you grabbed the back of her shirt and pulled her back up to her feet. You slung her right arm over your shoulder and wrapped your left arm around her waist. You looked down at her with your smug smile completely showing only to receive a pouting lip. 

“Did you have a nice trip Jess?” You said letting out a little chuckle. Her pout faded and smiled up at you. You didn’t know why, but your cousins had alway adored your awful humor. Maybe because it was the only time you would actually showed your real smile? You motioned to Cait that we were going to continue moving forward. All three of you walked peacefully talking about fond memories or silly past situations you all got into and you even told a few more jokes lighting up the mood. You normally don’t talk about such things, but with Cait and Jess it was a different story. They were your family, Cousins. They were the only family you had. Well the only family you had left anyways. Both your mother, aunt, and uncle were taken by the Feds after aiding some monsters that supposedly killed a human. Your grip tighten around Jess. Lies. Those monsters never could harm any human. You swore humans were the only real monsters in the world. You hated them. Despised them. Almost all humans did was tell lies and kill each other in cold blood. God you wished you weren’t human sometimes. The monsters seemed more at peace and kind compared to the human race. You wondered if there was some way to turn yourself into a monster. Man you wished. You were pulled out of your thoughts by a hand waving in front of your face.

“Uh, Cous y-you’re kind of hurting me.” You look down to see your hand practically digging your cousin’s side. You loosen your grip and gave her an apologetic look. 

“S-sorry. I got lost in my thoughts.”

“You know you shouldn’t do that.” she hummed worryingly looking up at you. You nodded ignoring her words. You always got lost in your thoughts. When you did you would wander aimlessly stuck in your own maze of displeasing and upsetting thoughts. It wasn’t very healthy for you either. Whenever you came out of your daze it would leave you in a dark state of mind. It left you feeling almost empty. Which was funny to you because you knew you were like a jelly donut. You had a skeletal, muscles, and organs. The jelly. You always felt there was a hole directly through your chest. Not physically of course. Your heart maybe? No, it was deeper than that. Your soul? You chuckled to yourself. Souls weren’t real you told yourself. If you did believe in spirits or having souls you would’ve guessed your soul had a hole where you could stick your whole arm through. Sadly, there was nothing you could do to stop the damned thoughts. It just kind of happens, but whenever you were around your cousins you always felt better. Their aura always seemed to ease your mind and bring you back down to earth. You really couldn’t imagine a world without them. “Lora are you alright? Why are you crying?” Your free hand shot straight to your face only to feel your skin damp and burning. Why were you crying? You had no clue. You didn’t even notice you were crying until Jess had pointed it out. “D-don’t worry! You didn’t hurt me that bad!” Jess said trying to reassure you. Quickly you wiped your falling tears away with your jacket’s sleeve and laughed. You loved it when your cousins worried about you. They always seemed so lost and confused whenever you broke down or started to cry. It was cute. 

“I-I’m fine Jessy Messy.” You said biting back a smile. She hated being called that and you knew it all too well. She puffed up her cheeks in anger and pulled her attention straight ahead of the two of you. You chuckled, “I’m only teasing Cous, but in all seriousness I’m fine. Like you said I just got lost in my own stupid thoughts.” You felt her arm around you tighten pulling you closer to her. 

“You know we hate it when you lie to us too…” You let out a soft laugh. Man how she turned the tables on you. You felt tears stinging at the corner of your eyes again. You pulled your hand into you jacket and wiped them away before she could notice. You guessed knowing when another is lying runs in the family or they just knew you all too well. You sighed and gazed ahead. Cait was standing still frozen in place almost like a statue. 

“Um, Cait we gotta-” you were interrupted by Cait.

“Shut up.” she whispered

“Don’t tell me to-.”

“Shush!” she hissed. 

SNAP

You flinched and froze in place along with Jess. Cait was scanning the area and you joined her in the search. The sun was nearly set leaving the three of you in it’s setting light. 

“They have to be around here somewhere. Those girls couldn’t have gotten too far in this light.” Fuck. The men had still been tracking the girls and you this whole time? Were they just stupid for following the three of you all the way out here into the woods or were they too drunk to even think properly? They were probably drunk as fuck. The three of you stood still watching as a hoard of lights skimmed the area looking for any signs of life. Of course the have flashlight you bit back a sigh. You gripped Jess tighter, you leaned over, and whispered into her ear. 

“Do you trust me?” Jess’ head snapped to you.

“What?” she whispered back.

“Do you trust me?” You repeated. She gave you a sad look.

“You’re going to do something stupid aren’t you?” You gave her a weak smile. Your knees were weak and your body shook. You always did stupid stuff. It was in your nature and you knew you had to protect them. If they found all three of you. Let’s just say you knew it wouldn’t pan out so well. She sighed and gave a nod of approval. 

“Cait,” you waved your hand to get her attention. When she turned slightly looking back at the two of you and you motioned her to grab Jess. Slowly Cait made her way over to the two of you and copied how you held Jess. “You two get out of here. I’m gonna steer them off our tracks.” you whispered. Cait gave you a concerned look and went to tell you how this is a awful idea, but you waved her off. “I’ll be fine. I am made of speed after all I’ll lose them easily.” Cait furrowed her brows with obvious reluctance of your plan. “I’ll meet up with the two of you I promise. Here we’ll meet up at the little waterfall. You remember where it is?” Cait gave a small grunt and nodded her head “Okay, then I’ll see you guys in like five minutes.” You gave them a smile and a thumbs up. You turned, but was abruptly stopped when you felt a hand clench around your wrist. You turn back to see Jess with tears slipping down her cheeks. 

“Y-you promise?” 

“Yeah, yeah, I promise. Now let go, please.” Jess released her grip and you took off flying. Not stopping looked over your shoulder and back at them only to see them vanish into the shadows. Now you had you do your part.  
________________________________________________________________________

You were running. Why wouldn’t you? You always loved to run. The wind through your hair was nice and you loved hearing the wind rush past your ears. It was like magic. It made you feel carefree and more importantly made you feel like you could fly. It felt like your feet were never touching the ground and you were just flying at light breaking speed. Man it was fun, but with a herd of men tripping over themselves and yelling curses in your direction was killing the mood. You would snicker every time you heard a thud or smack of the men running into trees, tripping over roots, or being clothes lined by branches. With little light now you were also having a little trouble with seeing where you were going, but you were fine you knew almost the entire forest like the back of your hand. You dodged and weaved through more branches until you were halted to a stop. A few feet ahead of you was a lone skull. What the? Forgetting the drunken herd you walked closer to inspect it. It was in a small clearing shining it the moon’s showering light. Getting closer you noticed it was rounded in shape and had a permanent jokester like grin. Odd for a human skull you thought. You shrugged the thought aside. You bent down, picked it up, and inspected it further. The first thing you noticed about it was it was warm to the touch. Probably due to sitting in the sun for too long you thought once again. You turned it over looking for any flesh or remains, but found nothing. You turned it’s face to yours and looked it directly into it’s eye sockets. 

“Where’s your body little fella?” No reply. What? Were you expecting it to come to life and talk to you? Ha funny. A very funny idea. “Well since it’s just me and you out here I’ll let you tag along little fella.” You winked at it. “Since there’s no body else to be seen.” You throw you head back and laughed at your own terrible joke. Finishing your laughing fit you looked down at the skull once again. Huh. Did it’s grin get bigger? You touched it’s teeth trying to find any warped features or changes in the bone. Nothing, all perfectly straight and smooth. Must’ve been your imagination. Teasingly you held it closer to your face and you said, “What did you find my joke humerus?” You chuckled and put the skull under your arm. You patted the top of it’s cranium. You looked around to see if you had lost the men. No lights were to be seen. Good, now you could head back to Cait and Jess. “This is going tibia long walk little buddy. Are you ready?” 

You continued to make awful puns walking back to Jess and Cait. For some reason you felt the skull was listening and enjoyed hearing them. Were you going mad? Maybe, maybe not. It didn’t really matter to you. It helped you feel less lonely in the dark. It felt like someone was with you. Walking and nodding in approval at your terrible jokes. It was nice. After awhile you brought the skull to your chest and hugged it tightly. “Heh heh. I think I’m a little lost,” you glanced over your shoulder, “And it’s getting kind of dark out here little fel-” You were cut off. You had walked into a low hanging branch hitting smack dab in the middle of your forehead and knocking you onto your ass. “F-fudge.” You touch your forehead and winced in pain. “Well that’s going to leave a bruise. Haha.” You made it back to your feet and clutched the skull closer to your chest. “You could say I need to have some knight vision to be able see where I’m going, Huh?” You let out a low chuckle. There you go making a bad situation better by telling a silly joke. You continued to walk towards your what you thought was your destination clutching the skull tighter as it the darkness grew and shifted. 

It felt like you were walking for ages. Your legs were shaking and your breathing had grown more ragged. As much as you loved running you were still out of shape. With all the running you did today you should have face planted into the ground miles ago, but you were determined to meet up with your cousins once again. They are probably worrying about you, maybe panicking, and you could see Jess holding Cait back from running into the woods to look for you. You crack a smile at the thought. That would be like them. After a while the silence finally got to you and were pulled into your dark thoughts. 

They were better without you. You were never really much of a help to them anyways. Cait was the muscles in the group. She was the one you said we needed to aid the monsters and was the one to smack the men down in a moments notice. Jess was the friendly one. Always the first willing to lend a helping hand and ready to forgive someone within a heartbeat. She was the one to confront the monsters and told them to flee with a smile stretched along her lips. What’d you do? You stood there with your baggy jacket loosely hanging off you looking down at you feet. What would have you done? Nothing. You really couldn’t do anything cause you weren’t needed. All you did was pull your cousins away when you saw the first signs of a fight starting. A coward. You were nothing, but a weak coward who couldn’t do anything except run in fear. Fucking useless is what you were. Not needed. Worthless. Weak. Coward. Unwanted. You fell to your knees weeping. You hated these thoughts, but you knew they were true. Your body quivered as you cried holding the skull even closer to your chest. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry I’m worthless. I can’t do anything, but be a coward who runs in fear of everything. DAMMIT!” You roll over to your side and snivel wiping your face into the grass. You brought the skull up to you face and smiled at it. “You think I’m nothing, but burden too don’t you?” You laughed weakly and brought it to your bruised head and lightly tap it’s frontal bone to your forehead. “Sorry, if I’m acting like a total bonehead right now. I just get these…thoughts time to time and hide it all until I finally break. Haha..” You set the skull down in the grass at your side and stare at the sky. 

“My cousins usually help ease my thoughts, but whenever I’m alone I get to thinking. Which leads me getting lost in my own mental maze. Not like you care. You’re an inanimate object. You can’t really do much, but listen to me babble and whine. Heh. Sorry.” You said looking back at the skull. It’s permanent grin seemed smaller. It almost looked like a frown. You played along, “Hey, I’m alright. I have my little episodes time to time, but after it’s done I feel like I can take down a bear.” You gave it a smile small. You brought it back to your chest and curled into a ball. “Oh stop that I toed you I’m fine. I just wish I could get to my cousins sooner. They’re probably worried down to the bone,” You chuckled. “I miss them…” You hugged the skull tight in your arms. A soft hum filled the air around you and you hummed along with it. It was comforting. You closed your eyes. It was almost like a lullaby. Your body relaxed, but you still held tight to the skull. It felt like magic was surrounding you. You felt lighter and at ease. When you opened your eyes you found yourself floating in the air enveloped by a blue light. “What the…” Out of curiosity you pulled the skull away from your chest only to be awe to what you saw. In its left eye socket there was a glowing blue and yellow eye emitting an eerie blue light and it’s grin was back. “Woah.” The humming in the air grew louder. “Are you mag-”

FLASH

“-ic?” You hung in the air still wrapped in the blue light. “Whaaaaat?! HOLY SH-!” You were cut off when the light vanished dropping you into a pool of water that was a foot below you. You pushed off the muddy floor, broke the water’s surface, and stood up gasping for air. Luckily the water was about waist deep, but sadly you were now completely soaking wet. You automatically pulled the skull up to you face. Seeing a now smug like grin on it’s face you said, “You did that on purpose you NUMBSKULL!” Congrats you were going insane. You were now yelling at an inanimate object and were starting to see it permanent grin change time to time. Insane in the membrane much? Great. Wait. You looked down at the water. How on earth? Your turned your attention back to the skull. “Where’d your magic eye go little fella? And did you just teleport us? DID YOU THIS? HOW?!” You softly shook it and held it closer to your face. “If you can do magic does that mean you can talk too? Well?” Nothing, but you swore it’s grin grew and you swore you saw beads of sweat dripping down its now glistening surface. It only looked like that because it was wet from the murky water you thought. You pursed your lips, “Well, fuck you too,” You said jokingly putting it back under your arm.

“LORA!” You spun around seeing Cait running and Jess limping to you. Cait jumped into the water and trudged through the murky water to you. You held out your free arm for her embrace, but the first thing she did was slam her fist into your a left arm making you yelp in pain. “YOU FUCKING IDIOT!” Then she wrapped you in a tight hug. “We thought you died.” She rubbed her face into your shoulder sniffing back a sob. “Thank goodness you’re alright.” Jess smiled up at you from the shore, but quickly it changed when her eyes fell to the skull.

“Uh, Cous? What is that?’ She said in a shaking voice. You looked down seeing the skull under your arm. You almost had forgotten about it. You pulled it out from under your arm and held it up at her like a child would do after finding something they thought was amazing to show to their parents. 

“It’s a magic eyed skull!” You said beaming. “Wanna touch it?” You wiggled your arms slightly with the skull pointing in her direction while smiling like an excited child. You were always fascinated by what held humans, animals, and some monsters up from becoming just a blob of flesh and organs. Yes, you adored bones. You loved other science related stuff too like geology, astronomy, greenhouse biology, and wildlife biology, but when it came to bones you gravitated to it automatically. You loved how almost every bone in any skeleton were different from one another and how they all fit together like a giant puzzle. When you first found the skull you thought you were imagining things because you’ve never seen anything like it. You couldn’t recall any animal nor human who had this skull’s shape and size. It was odd and you loved it. It was new. It was exciting. You noted to yourself this was the exact reason why you were head over heels for any skeletons or bones you came across. You chewed on your bottom lip while you mind was flooded by thoughts that started to cloud your mind. You were aware most people (including your cousins) found your interests were quite strange, but you didn’t really pay much attention to the glares or stares you received. You were always too intent in examining and studying every ridge, bump and curve on every bone that fell into your hands. 

“Nah, I’m good,” she said laughing nervously. 

“Your loss,” you said shrugging. Both Cait and you made your way back the shore. Jess gave you a side hug avoiding touching the skull. With all three of you standing in a small circle looking at one another. You finally took notice that you were still drenched from head to toe in the cold night. You brought the skull back to your chest and through your chattering teeth you blurted out, “Clothes. I need new clothes.”


	2. Three Falling Birds

With the excitement from experiencing what you could only guess was magic fading fast you felt nothing, but a prickling sensation on your skin cause you to shutter. Oh right. Clothes. You needed new clothes. Before you could ask Jess dashed to your side and stripped you of your soggy jacket. With the jacket in her hand she ran off out of earshot to lay it along a tree branch to dry. You thought about dropping the skull to hug yourself to hold in as much body heat as you could, but decided against it. You didn’t want to harm it you didn’t know how fragile it actually was. It could shatter on contact with the ground. You shook your head just barely so your cousin couldn’t see. Plus you just found it and witnessed it was capable of doing magic. Why would you risk it breaking?  
“Lora, Why on earth were you in that lake?” You turned to face Cait who had her hands on her hips glaring at you. Oh man, she looked upset. “Fooling around in the water in this weather will only get you sick!” Cait mumbled towards you while whipping her hands in the air frantically. “You never think! Why don’t you ever think!?” She lightly pounded the palm of your hand onto her forehead repeating why. “Why must you go around running like hell’s fire is on your heels and then you suddenly appear out of nowhere in the lake? What?! You thought you could swim across it or something?” Her hands fall to her sides staring up at you with the corner of her eyes tearing up. Her eyes were soft watching for any type of reaction from her outburst. You gave her a weak smile. “I don’t understand you. You could’ve DIED. It always seems you put us ahead of yourself.” She jabs a finger at your chest. “I-It seems like you care for us more than you do yourself. I…We don’t want you to put yourself in danger. We just want you to be safe,” she brought the sleeve of her shirt up to her face wiping away the tears “We need you just as much as we need us,” she mumbled into her sleeve. You frowned down at her.  
You felt an odd twist in your gut. You wanted to laugh. Had you heard her right? They needed you? Pfft, yeah right. You’ve done basically nothing for them besides be a pain in their side. Man you just wanted to bust a gut and roll on the ground until you had to gasp for air. Instead you stood there like a deer in the headlights with you mouth partly gaping. You were stuck. Frozen in place. How were you suppose to respond to that? You dug your nails into the palm of your shaking hand. They were more important than you. Without them you would sink farther into your endless void of your thoughts. You HAD to protect them. Yeah just tell her that. You were sure it’d clear this up and you might feel better if you just told her. You open your mouth to explain, but Jess comes bounding back with an orange plaid backpack hanging off one of her shoulders smiling with from ear to ear.  
“I got your bag!” She said skidding to a stop in front of both Cait and you. Cait quickly spun on her heels turning away.  
“We’ll talk later.” She said in a low voice before walking off. Jess looked to you confusion etched into her face.  
“D-did I do something wrong?” She questioned looking up to you while slowly lowering your backpack to the ground. You sighed and placed your hand on her shoulder.  
“Nah, She’s just, uh, releasing some steam.” You smiled as sweetly as you could manage. Your mind swam in the new information Cait allowed to slip off her tongue. Did they really need just as much as you needed them and how much did Cait actually know? Jess sighed rubbing her right shoulder where she carried the backpack.  
“What on earth do you have in that bag of yours anyway, Lora? It’s heavy as hell.” Jess questioned still rubbing her shoulder. A nervous smile slipped onto your lips twitching to stay in place.  
“Ah nothing, Just some of my stuff and some knick knacks I’ve picked up.” You squeezed the skull tighter under your arm with your smile wavering. “Welp Ima go change now. Seeya in a few,” you said picking up the backpack and slinging it onto your shoulders. You walked into the woods out of sight. You slid the bag off and softly laid it onto the ground letting out a sigh. You leaned against the nearest tree, pressed your back against it, and slid down hearing the bark snag and release your damp shirt. Now sitting on the ground you moved the skull from under your arm to your lap. You lazily looked down at the skull and lightly rolled it back and forth across your lap like a cat would do playing with a ball. You looked up at the sky. Tonight was a new moon. With absence of the moon you were able to see the stars clearly. You gawked at them until you remembered the skull in you lap. You smiled down at it.  
“Hey, Bonehead,” you knocked on top of it’s cranium. “Hey, you want to see something cool?” The blue and yellow eye flickered to life in his empty left eye socket and glanced up at you waiting. You angled the skull upwards to get view the billions of stars that coating the night sky. It’s eye flicked back and forth taking in the tiny white lights hanging above. “Pretty neat, huh? You know that every dot you see up there is a star in million or even billions of light years away and you want to know what’s funny about looking at the night sky?” It’s eye glowed brighter with it’s full attention back on you and the air around you was filled with a low hum. “You’re basically staring into the past,” you said with smile, “Most of the stars you see are dead, but since everything is too far away the dead star’s light still travels through space creating the dots that plague our sky,” You sigh drumming your fingers on top of the skull cranium. You perk up when you remember something you’ve forgotten, “There’s also constellations! They’re the best part of the sky.” The skull’s eyes is scanning the sky looking. You sit up and point to three stars aligned, “That is the Big Dipper, right next to it is the Little Dipper. They are also known as Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. There’s a story about them, but I can’t really remember them that well. I can tell you later once I remember.” You smile down at the skull and you realize it’s eyes has been focused on you this entire time you were talking. You coughed and move your gaze back up at the sky. You hummed lightly “Do you like it? The stars I mean.” Silence and the crickets’ music was the only thing to answer you. “Hehe, good talk,” you tapped the side of your head with the palm of your hand, “I’m talking to a skull. Holy shit. I really am losing it.” You let out a breathy huff of a chuckle while staring at the ground. Suddenly you pulled your bag over to you and shuffled through it pulling out one of many sketch books you had stuffed in it. You stared at it for awhile until you waved it slightly in front of the skull’s face.  
“If you want I can show you what’s in here and my other books later, but I gotta go change first. So I’ll be right back.” You placed the skull at the base of the tree as you rummaged through your bag until you pulled out an extra set of clothes. Well more like pajamas more than anything. You slip off your damp shirt and replace it with the new one. It was a faded orange shirt with a teddy bear on it wearing a skeleton costume with the words “Bad to the Bone” printed on it. It was twice your size, but you adored it’s bagginess. It helped hide your figure. You snickered while slipping on your purple spotted pj pants. Jess always hated when you wore baggy clothes. ‘You’re never going to get any boys dressed like that’ she would always say. She was probably right, but to you “showing off your body” wasn’t the correct way to grab a boy’s attention. He should like you as you were and let you be you. You sighed, but who were you? You had no clue. You repeated the steps with your pants and turned around towards the skull. “What do you think?” You stood in a heroic pose with a wide grin. It’s eye gazed at you in awe and it smile seemed a bit bigger. Knowing you weren’t going to get a verbal response you dropped your pose and walked back to your spot by the skull. Sitting back down you picked up the magic skull once again and stared down at it. You ran your thumb along its cheek bone while you hummed a soft tune.  
“What exactly ARE you?” you asked spinning the base of the skull in your palm. You spun it back to where its face faced yours with it’s glowing eye staring back at you, “You’re like nothing I’ve seen before. Not animal for sure. More human, but not exactly human. How fascinating.” Your brush your fingers along its permanent grin. You huff a laugh, “And your teeth are perfect, straight and well aligned, but you got a little gap in between your two front teeth,” you smiled sweetly, “It’s actually quite cute.” You see a blue tint creep onto it’s cheekbones. Must’ve been the lighting you thought to yourself. Smiling wider you placed the skull in your lap and grinned up at the night sky.  
Silence filled the air around you until you spoke sleepily, “They’re really pretty, aren’t they? I mean the stars.” You ran your finger lightly across the skull’s cranium tracing a few of the constellations you saw. “They’re beautiful.” You cooed as the stars began to fade. “I wish I could sleep under the stars more often. It’s quite. Soothing.” You whispered as your eyes grew heavy. Again the air around you filled with a low hum followed by everything fading into the inky darkness.  
___________________________________________________  
“Loooooraaaaaaaa!” Your eyes snap open as you lurch forward in a panic gripping the front of your shirt. Yelling. Who the hell was yelling? You blink a few times noticing the sun barely peeking above Mount Ebott. Time. What time is was it? Your hand travels up to the side of your face as you heaved. Early. Around 6:30 you guessed. Who was yelling again? Your eyes flicked in all directions as you took in what surrounded you. Nothing, just trees, but who and where?”  
“Loo-ooraa-aa!” The voice rang out again pricing your ears. This time though it sounded more pained and desperate. The hell? You groggily pushed yourself onto your numbed legs using a tree to catch yourself. Something was in your hands. You look down to see the smiling skull although it didn’t have it’s jokester like smile anymore and it’s eye is gone. Looked more like a frown than a smile. Oh right. The magic skull you found yesterday. You smile patting its head to reassure yourself it was real. It was. Wait. Why was it frowning?  
“Looorrr-ahhhh!” The voice shrieked with agony that melted into an unforgettable scream.  
“J-Jess?” Was Jess screaming? Why? You grabbed your bag and stumbled towards her screams. Why was she screaming and why did her voice sound so strained? Your grip tightened around the now frowning skull. Slowly you made your way to where you left your cousins. Man you should’ve went back to them before you passed out. Idiot you thought to yourself as fear squeezed at your heart. Coming to a stop you froze wanting to let out a scream of terror. Jess was silent. She hung limply in the grip of a scaly blue hand that belonged to a fish lady with flowing red hair tied back into a ponytail. The woman shook her violently trying to wake Jess back up.  
“Where is he?!” The woman shouted as she slapped Jess harshly across her face. No response.  
“U-UNDYNE I THINK THE LITTLE HUMAN M-MUST’VE PASSED OUT. MAYBE Y-YOU SHOULD PUT THEM DOWN.” Still taking in the disturbing scene your eyes flicked to the side seeing a tall figure hidden in the shadows walking towards the woman with Cait floating above his head enveloped in an orange glow thrashing in the air. You couldn’t make out what the figured looked like, but you guessed it was another monster. The woman’s grip tighten around Jess’ throat causing Jess to begin to wheeze struggling to breath. Your free hand moved to your belt feeling a slick hard handle slip into your grasp. You allowed it to stay sheathed waiting for one of the two monsters to make a move. Suddenly you saw the shadowy figure’s gloved hand move with amazing speed and grip the woman’s arm. “PUT THEM DOWN,” the figure demanded with fear present in his voice. Cait was crying now as she witnessed the Jess’ breathing becoming weaker and irregular.  
“Papyrus! These humans could’ve killed him for all we know and you’re willing to defend them!?” The woman snapped back. It looked like the figure was shaking now, but his grip remaind. He went to retort, but you’ve had enough.  
“Put them down!” You cried as you unsheathed the dagger and rose it in their direction. Both of the monsters turned to face you with shock and confusion written on their faces, but the woman’s face twisted into anger dropping Jess who fell limp into the dried leaves.  
“Where’d you get that skull, human?” The woman said in a tight and venomous voice. Fear ran through out your body screaming to run, but you couldn’t. You can’t leave your cousin’s like this. Your arm squeezed the skull tighter.  
“I-I found it!” You shouted with your voice breaking. Oh god. You’re going to die.  
“Give it to me.” The woman held out her free hand, but you shook your head violently taking a step back.  
“H-HUMAN,” The shadow’s voice boomed with worry, “ W-WE MEAN NO HARM.” The woman scoffs taking a step in your direction, but the tall unknown monster moves between the two of you. “WE JUST NEED THAT SKULL BACK. I’M SORRY THE LITTLE HUMAN WAS HURT.” The shadow shifted and appeared to be looking at his feet. “I FOUND THE OTHER HUMAN FIRST,” he looked over his shoulder to Cait that was now hovering over Jess trying to wake her up, “BUT l DIDN’T REALIZE THERE WAS ANOTHER HUMAN THAT WAS HIDING UNTIL THE LITTLE HUMAN HIT UNDYNE WITH A ROCK.” His eyes sadden. “I WASN’T FAST ENOUGH TO STOP HER.” The dagger shook in your hand. Dammit Jess. You just HAD to didn’t you? Cait was now cradling Jess in her arms bridal style as she slowly got to her feet. “WE JUST NEED HIM BACK. WE WERE WORRIED HE MIGHT’VE DIED.” Red gloved hands slowly extended towards you. “PLEASE, HUMAN GIVE HIM BACK.” You stared helplessly up at his hidden face.  
“N-No.” The dagger fell back to your side shaking your head taking a couple more steps back. You were scared. The skull belonged to you. It was yours. You found it. The tall figure seemed taken back, but he returned to his sadden posture. “It was all alone! You’re telling me you were the one’s who left it there?!”  
“WE TOLD HIM WE’D BE BACK FOR HIM, BUT YES WE LEFT HIM THERE.” The shadow shuffled on his feet like a child would do while being scolded. Unbelievable.  
“How dare you,” you said with a strained voice, “Do you have any idea what that feels like?!” You snapped causing the tall figure to take a step back. “There’s no way in HELL i’m giving it back to you!” You slipped the dagger back into its sheath on your belt and sprinted towards the shaking Cait grabby her wrist and taking off running dragging her and Jess who laid still.  
“You little punks! Get back here!” The air felt heavy and soft hum filled the air around you. It almost sounds exactly what had happened the skull had used magic to teleport you. You glance down seeing a soft blue and yellow glow illuminate the ground in front of you. Was the skull planning on teleporting you again? Suddenly something whizzed past your face and struck the ground sparking wildly. Whipping your head back you see Undyne closing the distance hurling blue spears towards you that came out of nowhere. Magic. Of course it’s magic. What else could it have been? “Fight me you fucking brat!” Speed up. Faster, Faster dammit!  
”HUMAN! DON’T-” Run. You repeated that word over and over in your clouded mind. Run. You heard the two monsters chase after you screaming what sounded like gibberish to you. The only thing you could hear was heartbeat falling in sync with each step of your feet hitting the ground. You could hear Cait shouting something, but it was lost in the wind. You look up just in time to see a worm hole like portal a few feet in front of you with teal and yellow swirling and blending into one another. You recognized it immediately. It was the same color of the magic the skull had used.  
“What the hell is th-?!” Cait was cut off by you tossing her along with Jess into the swirling portal disappearing from sight. You did it. You saved them. Heh. Humans: one, Monsters: zero. You bent over hands on knees panting. God you needed to work out more to build up your stamina. You snap back to reality as you hear leaves crunching and the booming voice once again.  
“HUMANS!” The unknown figure comes bursting through the treeline stopping in the shadows immediately looking down at the you, “HUMAN…” His voice is softer with his hidden eyes locked onto yours.  
“Stay away from us.” You said with your voice dripping with malice. The figure wringed his gloved hands with his hidden eyes flicking from you, to the ground, and back to you. You inched closer to the portal still facing the tall shadow. You allowed your eyes to scan the figure taking in it’s visible features. Red gloves, plus a red cape, and an armor chest plate with a strange symbol printed on it.  
“HUMAN…. PLEAS-” You didn’t hesitate to pass through it. Next thing you know you hit something that felt like a brick wall and fall forward landing on top of it.  
“Get off!” You felt the back of a hand slap you directly on your cheek causing you to roll off and bite back a scream.  
“What the FOCK!” you hissed.  
“Wait, Lora?” Cait pushed herself off the ground and shuffles over to you. “Oh god, I didn’t know it was you. You okay?”  
“I-I’m fine.” You lied. You were far, far away from being fine, but there’s no time to have a heart to heart with your cousin. You rolled onto your knees and stood up rubbing your sore cheek. “We gotta get moving the fish lady and the other monster are probably still following us. Where’s Jess?” Hit with realization Cait turns back to where you had rammed into them out of nowhere. Jess laid still on her side letting out short shallow breaths. You handed Cait the skull. She fumbled with it for a moment before setting it on top of your bag. You dragged your feet as you walked towards Jess. You bent down close enough to hear her breathing. It was ragged and broken. You scooped her into your arms bridal style and stood back up. Cait was right at you side before you could call her over with the backpack on. You can see the the top of the skull’s cranium stick out of the top of it. You almost laugh, It looked as if it was playing peek-a-boo, but with Jess’s weight becoming more present you bite it back. Cait and you stare down at Jess for a while until Cait broke the silence.  
“Is she going to be alright?” She lightly touched Jess’ throat. There was no sign of bruise, but you knew better. It would be purple within a day or two, but the fish lady’s hand print was definitely fully visible.  
“She’s gonna be fine,” You said in a hoarse voice. You give Cait a weak smile, leaning forward, and lightly tapped your forehead against hers. “Probably won’t be able to speak without it hurting for a couple days and getting a nasty bruise. Other than that she’ll be her happy go lucky self.” You glance down at her and nearly grimace. Today was just not her day was it? Just as you were about to continue walking something caught your attention out of the corner of your eye. “GET DOWN,” you shouted pushing Cait head’s forcing her and yourself to the ground. A spear whizzes past your heads just barely missing.  
“Found you punks!” The fish lady bursts out of the treeline manifesting another spear in the palm of her hand. She towers over all of you pointing the spear directly at your chest. You swallow thickly cradling Jess as you sat up. You glared up at the woman and smiled.  
“You hurt my cousin and now you’re threatening to pierce my chest. Heh. You gotta be krilling me.” You chuckled lightly as the spear was lifted and the woman groaned.  
“Great another pun loving idiot.”  
“Well thanks, at least I’m not a Basstard like you. Haha” You’re silenced almost immediately with the spear pointed back at you, but this time at your throat. “Oh my cod, you can’t take a joke huh?” You snicker nervously as the spear inches closer.  
“Lora, just shut up.” Cait whispers loudly.  
“I’ve had enough. You have the count to three to return him to me. If you don’t I’ll skewer you.” You glanced down at Jess. “One,” then as Cait, “Two,” The woman’s voice wavered and you closed your eyes smiling. No more running away. You heard the spear being lifted into the air poised at your chest ready to pierce. “T-two and a half.”  
“I’m waiting,” You hear Cait shouting something about moving, but you didn’t want to. You couldn’t. You didn’t want to be known as the chicken anymore.  
“Th-Thre-” Something bursts through the trees tackling the woman to the ground pinning her down as she spewed multiple cruses at the person who had attacked her. The stranger stood up and thrusted their hand downwards causing the woman to grunt. You took notice of a visible cartoon like heart glowing softly through the woman’s clothing, but instead of red is was a dark shade of blue. A similar red cape flutter behind him it was the tall figure from before. A orange colored eye was staring at the three of you from the shadows. Cait stands quickly up and tugs on your arm pulling you along with Jess off the ground. Cait and you huddle together staring up at the figure. You glance behind you and see a small cave entrance. We could escape through there you thought. Looking back to the figure you see his glowing eye moving to where you had been looking and his eye sadden. You had a gut feeling he knew what you were planning and stepped forward. Before he could say anything to discourage your choice you tugged Cait’s jacket and ran. Cait followed in pursuit leaving the shouting figure and angered woman behind. You went straight into the darken cave, but immediately stopped. In front of you was a drop off with no bottom visible. Great, just your luck. Just as you were about the yell for Cait to stop she launches herself into the cavern not looking where she’s going and steps over the ledge.  
“CAIT WAIT!” You lurch forward and grab her wrist as she drops. You’re on your knees with Jess in your lap in one arm while you held Cait who dangled from your other. You couldn’t lift her up you were too exhausted. You were slowly inching forward to the edge that’s when Jess slipped from your grasp and slide off the edge. You screamed in terror as Jess fell. Taking notice of what had happened Cait grabs a hold of Jess’s ankle as she flew by Cait. With your other hand free you grabbed a hold of Cait’s hand with your eyes pleading for her not to let go. Her grip tighten on your hand and gave you a pained smile. Your knees were over the edge now and tears fell from you eyes. You won’t let go. Don’t you dare let go. You told yourself. Not like this. You can’t lose them like this. Without noticing you were tipping forward about to join your cousins, but as you fell forward you felt someone grab one of your hands. It felt like fabric. Cloth. Bewildered your wide eyes looked up to be greeted with the familiar glowing orange eye that illuminated the figure’s face. A skull. His eyes looked sad even hurt.  
“D-DON’T LET GO HUMAN.” His voice echoed off the cavern’s walls and into the depths. His gloved hand was gripping your’s tightly almost begging for you to hold on. Your eyes widen.  
“Y-You’re a s-skeleton.” You whispered. You swayed side to side as your cousins and you dangled from the skeleton’s grip. A living, walking, and talking skeleton was above you preventing your cousins and you from dropping into the dark deep abyss that laid below all of you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking so long to post the second chapter. I kind of got discouraged after most of the chapters I had written had not been saved and were sadly lost... I didn't feel up to re-write it all... Sorry again ;n;


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